Patti is in the mood for Christmas and has kicked off the season on her blog with a fun Christmas cookbook giveaway. What better way is there to start the season than good home cooking! Go on over to Patti's blog and sign up. While you are there you can meet her adorable family and take a peak at her recipe blog. I have gotten many recipes from her and they are always great. Here's to the start of a Merry Christmas season!

DEEP THOUGHTS FOR THANKSGIVING...

"If you're at a Thanksgiving dinner, but you don't like the stuffing or the cranberry sauce or anything else, just pretend like you're eating it, but instead, put it all in your lap and form it into a big mushy ball. Then, later, when you're out back having cigars with the boys, let out a big fake cough and throw the ball to the ground. Then say, 'Boy, these are good cigars!'"
- Jack Handy
Deep Thoughts

This just made me giggle. I know, I have issues ;-)

THE BIG REVEAL

I AM SO LATE ON THIS UPDATE BECAUSE OUR LIFE HAS BEEN PRETTY BUSY AS A RESULT OF THIS BIG REVEAL...

MASON'S CAST IS OFF!

HE IS SO HAPPY TO BE ABLE TO GET THAT THING OFF. IT WAS REALLY BEGINNING TO CRAMP HIS STYLE. HE DID HAVE TO WEAR A BRACE FOR A COUPLE OF WEEKS JUST AFTER IT WAS REMOVED BUT COULD TAKE IT OFF FOR THERAPY. NOW WE ARE JUST TAPING HIS FINGER TO HIS MIDDLE FINGER FOR SUPPORT. HE HAS BEEN SEEING A HAND THERAPIST IN DALLAS TWICE A WEEK AND IS MAKING GREAT PROGRESS. I AM SO PROUD OF HOW HARD HE IS WORKING. IT ISN'T EASY WHEN IT HURTS BUT HE PRESSES ON. HIS THERAPIST, ANN AT CHILDREN'S IS WONDERFUL! SHE MAKES IT FUN EVEN WHEN IT IS HARD. MASON HAS REALLY CONNECTED WITH HER AND DOESN'T WANT TO LET HER DOWN SO THAT IS GREAT. YESTERDAY HE FINALLY WAS ABLE TO BEND THAT FINGER FAR ENOUGH TO TOUCH THE BOTTOM OF HIS PALM. THAT IS A HUGE MILESTONE FOR HIM AND REALLY ENCOURAGED HIM TO WORK EVEN HARDER TO MAKE IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL. I CAN SEE GREAT CHARACTER THE LORD IS MOLDING IN MASON THROUGH THIS EXPERIENCE. I CAN PRAISE HIM IN THIS STORM!

THE "BUZZ SAW" COMES OUT AND OFF IT GOES!
MASON THOUGHT IT WAS SO WEIRD THAT HIS HAND WAS WRINKLY. HE SAID, "IT LOOKS LIKE AN OLD LADY'S HAND". SO FUNNY. WE COVERED THE FINGER SINCE WE THOUGHT NO ONE WOULD WANT TO SEE THE PINS STICKING OUT. MASON WASN'T TOO CRAZY ABOUT THAT SIGHT.

WE SHOULD HAVE ANOTHER BIG REVEAL NEXT WEEK. WE ARE GETTING SO MUCH CLOSER ON THE HOUSE. CABINETS THAT ARE STAINED WILL BE FINISHED, COUNTER TOPS, TILE AND FLOORS...THAT WILL MAKE THINGS LOOK MORE LIKE A HOME.

I CAN'T WAIT!

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

I was reading a post on Jodee's blog about her fun visits to her hubby's parents home that reminded me of a story I do not want to forget, so since this is our family journal, here it is...

Mark's grandparents are just some of the greatest people you will ever meet. They live in a tiny town in Kansas and going there to visit truly makes you take a break from things because life is much slower there. Grandpa is now 94 and Granny is 89 but that doesn't slow them down much. When we lived in Kansas, we spent many weekends at "Granny and Grandpa's" house. They were there for us in so many different ways. I grew to love them so much in such a short time. Once we moved to Texas and the boys came along it was harder to make it up to Kansas so often but when we did it was so fun. Granny's TV was OLD SCHOOL so there is no way you are hooking up video games on that baby. The TV rarely made it on unless KU was playing basketball. So what do you do with all of your time? You spend it playing games, reading, granny attempting to teach you to knit, granny actually teaching you how to cook, meandering through antique stores while the men were at the hardware store, looking at old photographs of hubby as a child in his best 70's attire...good times.
On one particular visit Mason was 5 and Andrew had just turned 1. Andrew had spent the day attempting to get into EVERYTHING at Granny's and Mason had a blast checking out Grandpa's workshop and doing man stuff. We put Andrew to bed and decided to play some card games and teach Mason to play Dirty Aces. It is a pretty simple game where everyone gets one card. You can decide to keep it or trade with the player your right. Once you have traded, you are stuck with the card. The highest card wins but Aces are considered the lowest card. Mason was sitting to the left of grandpa and kept trading with him only to get a dirty ace or something else worse than what he originally had. Mason was starting to get tired of this and started pouting and tearing up. Grandpa would just giggle every time. Granny didn't like her little baby getting upset so she kept telling grandpa, "Marvin, leave him alone, Marvin, don't let him trade with you if your card is bad" and the such. Mason finally looked up and burst into tears and said, "I don't like this game and I wish everyone would quit calling me Marvin!" We all roared with laughter. Poor little guy didn't realize that Grandpa's name was Marvin and thought we were calling him names. We still make him giggle when he is upset by saying, "I wish everyone would quit calling me Marvin". It gets him to smile every time.

Trick or Treat, Smell My Feet...

They did get plenty of good things to eat.

Mason was a cute little 50's James Dean-ish little guy...cute I must say.

Andrew wanted to be a big football player so he wore his brother's football uniform to look the part. He even carried the helmet to collect his candy and had to hold the football AT. ALL. TIMES to complete his look.

I love these little guys!

HMMMM?

Last night Andrew was cleaning up his room when I heard him yell with excitement, "Mom, come here. I found a ladybug". I had my hands in dishwater so I yelled back, "Just a minute". A few seconds later he walked into the kitchen and said, "Never mind Mom, It's dead". I asked him how he knew it was dead and he said, "I blew on it and it and my breath flipped it over...it was a brown old man." I have no idea how brown old man = dead ladybug but somehow in Andrew's mind it does. CRAZINESS!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LITTLE MISTER ROO!

My favorite little five year old boy becomes my favorite little six year old boy today. When I think back to the day he was born I have to remember that he came into this world with excitement and energy. By the time we made it to the hospital and I put on a gown, I had to push...no time for drugs. This should have given me a hint into the personality of this precious little boy we were bringing home. He is so full of excitement and energy. He does things in his own way and in his own time. Even though that can mean long days sometimes ;-), I do see how the Lord gave him this strong will and determination for a reason. I know when he is on the road the Lord has prepared for him he will persevere no matter what the world would try to persuade him to do. Now that Andrew is six he can do so many things all on his own. He can build fabulous things out of Legos. He amazes me with what imagination he has and his ability to execute the designs in his mind.
Andrew is my little foodie! He will try anything I cook and likes most everything (except for the artichokes I made last week...not a hit). He loves to help me cook. He helped me make a big pot of taco soup in anticipation of Aunt Tammy and Uncle Dennis' visit with the cousins too.

He keeps us in stitches with the things he says and does. Sometimes we have to keep the giggles inside while we remind him of appropriateness. Yesterday he ran over to me in the middle of his flag football game and said, "I think I have a brain injury". The look on his face gave away that he was fine and just looking to make all of the mommies laugh.

Happy Birthday to my favorite six year old boy in the whole world. You are my little Mister Roo. I thank God for you every day and love watching your little personality grow and unfold before me. I can't wait to see the wonderful things the Lord will do in your life and what an impact you will make for Him. I look forward to many more years of laughter, love and snuggles!

Meltdown

Well, it has happened. Mason had his meltdown about his whole situation last night. He has rolled with everything so calmly...true to his personality. I knew he had to have his moment at some time, I just wasn't ready to see how emotional this all really is for him and how much he is keeping it in. We were getting in the car to pick up our pizza and Mason threw on his Heeley's and started to roll out to the car. I told him he couldn't be skating with his arm in the cast. That was it, he just unloaded and cried. He told me how much he can't do...no PE, no recess, no football, no riding his scooter, no video games, no Guitar Hero. I tried to explain to him the cast only had to be on for another 2 1/2 weeks. He then said he knew he had to do therapy for a while and still won't be able to do everything that kids get to do. I had to giggle when he said he thought getting to sit around and watch a lot of TV would be cool but now it's boring. I did my best to just listen and let him vent. What could I say, watching TV does get boring after a while. Then, from the back seat I hear Andrew say with his slight little lisp, "Bubba, I wish I could wear your cast for you". AWWW! My little guy was feeling compassion for his big brother. Don't get me wrong, my boys love each other so much, but sometimes it is obvious that Andrew gets tired of being in Mason's shadow and Mason gets tired of Andrew following behind. Normal sibling issues I suppose but it is nice to see them be there for each other when one is having a hard time. We will continue "X"ing the days on the calendar until the cast comes off. We've been playing chess, reading and having extra movie nights. Any suggestions for calm indoor activities? My creativity is zapped.

FLU...I loathe you!

This is what the last 4 days has consisted of in our home...(from top to bottom)
-Sanitize every surface in our home, especially the rooms that Mark & Andrew have been quarantined. I forgot the hand sanitizer but that goes without saying. This also includes washing all of the bed linens since I am trying hard to keep Mason and myself from becoming the next victims of this villain.
-Medication administration...between the flu meds for Mark & Andrew and Mason's meds after his surgery, I almost need to set the schedules in Outlook for reminders. The Stress Formula with Zinc is for me ;-)
-Breathing treatments. I thought we were past those days since the boys are older. Washing out the little canisters endlessly throughout the day...blah.

Oh, and I am trying to get work done from home in the midst of all of this. After almost two weeks with only a few hours spent in my office I am VERY BEHIND. I wonder if they make Extra Strength Stress Formula? Yeah, they do...I think the generic name for it is whiskey...LOL.